We have been to Taverna Plaka a number of times on trips to Atlanta. We live in a town that doesn't have decent Greek food, and TP never failed to please...until last night. It was our one year wedding anniversary and we chose TP because we'd loved it so much before.
The first disappointment was that the bar didn't have any Tsiporo, which my husband loves. The bartender was wonderful, and we enjoyed talking with him. I think the wine prices are way too high, probably to compensate for the relatively inexpensive 'martinis'. We ordered the red pepper dip to eat with our drinks. A good sized bowl of it came, but with only one pita bread cut into four wedges. We got more bread, but it did seem odd. My first taste of the dip was astonishing. If I hadn't been told it was red pepper dip, I would have sworn I was eating off the shelf pimento cheese spread. Not nearly enough feta, and obviously bottled red peppers that didn't taste roasted.
After perusing the drastically reduced menu (which has probably 20 or so 'mezes' (small bites, I think...appetizers, in other words ... and about 12 main dishes) we considered going somewhere else, and really we should have. We were seated inside, at our request, though it was clear they wanted to seat us on the patio. The evening was hot and muggy, and outside didn't seem like a great place to be to us. Our waiter was an experience. It really seemed he was drunk.
We finally ended up settling on lamb kabobs (two skewers of about 4 pieces each, overcooked, with a few tiny pieces of overcooked veggies) which were served on a pita with a mound of tzatziki. No side. We filled in with the shrimp and feta. The shrimp was actually quite good. We also had lemon roasted potatoes -- as an appetizer?? The potatoes were undercooked and tasteless.
Our bartender had told us they'd remodeled recently, and had new cooks. I suspect they also have new owners who are trying to cut costs. We won't go back and we're sad.
Pros: Great bartender
Cons: Terrible wait-service, sub-par food
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